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Austin legend Jon Dee Graham plays “This Old Guitar”

Jon Dee Graham’s parts Strat has been his stage and studio mainstay for more than four decades. Assembled by Mark Younger-Smith with a ’64 neck, ’63 pickups, and a Custom Shop reissue body finished in Shoreline Gold that lends testimony to the years and miles. Here, he plays it through a 30-watt Carr, jamming on the lick and lead from “This Old Guitar,” a track from his latest album, “Only Dead For A Little While.” Catch our review in the April issue. Read Now!


Premiere of Seth Lee Jones’ new 110 video!

Filmed at one of our favorite local dive bars, Tin Dog, this is “110.” I played my main guitar, a battle scarred Tele style I built from scratch in 2006. It’s a one piece ash body, one piece birdseye maple neck with single carbon fiber neck reinforcement. The neck is non adjustable and has no radius, it’s dead flat like a classical. The bender unit is a modified Hipshot palm lever unit. It’s loaded with mcnelly pickups, stagger swagger neck and dual blade bridge. It’s tuned open D with a String Joy custom set .017,.017., .026, .032, 0 42., .053 nickel. Keep up with Seth on Instagram!


Austin legend Jon Dee Graham plays “This Old Guitar”

Jon Dee Graham’s parts Strat has been his stage and studio mainstay for more than four decades. Assembled by Mark Younger-Smith with a ’64 neck, ’63 pickups, and a Custom Shop reissue body finished in Shoreline Gold that lends testimony to the years and miles. Here, he plays it through a 30-watt Carr, jamming on the lick and lead from “This Old Guitar,” a track from his latest album, “Only Dead For A Little While.” Catch our review in the April issue. Read Now!


Premiere of Seth Lee Jones’ new 110 video!

Filmed at one of our favorite local dive bars, Tin Dog, this is “110.” I played my main guitar, a battle scarred Tele style I built from scratch in 2006. It’s a one piece ash body, one piece birdseye maple neck with single carbon fiber neck reinforcement. The neck is non adjustable and has no radius, it’s dead flat like a classical. The bender unit is a modified Hipshot palm lever unit. It’s loaded with mcnelly pickups, stagger swagger neck and dual blade bridge. It’s tuned open D with a String Joy custom set .017,.017., .026, .032, 0 42., .053 nickel. Keep up with Seth on Instagram!


Dominic Miller

Team Player, Solo Turn

A longtime member of Sting’s band, Dominic Miller is the quintessential team player, even on his own solo albums. His latest release is Vagabond, a melding of jazz, world music, and pop produced by studio icon Manfred Eicher. The enchanting music is led by Miller’s acoustic guitar, yet he never overplays. Rather, he lets other […]

Dutch Kazoo Analog Fuzz Pedal Price: $225 retail Info: www.dutchkazoo.com It’s not easy for a new boutique overdrive or distortion pedal to stand out in today’s thick fog of clipped signals, high gains, and crunchy fuzz. After all, properly tweaked, they all can be made to sound about the same, right? This may not be […]

Gibson Johnny Smith

In 1961, Gibson’s Johnny Smith model not only associated Gibson with one of the most popular guitar stylists of the day, it also brought high-quality amplification and high-quality acoustic sound together for the first time. From Gibson’s first electric “Spanish” guitar, the ES-150 of 1936, Gibson had fashioned an electric guitar by cutting a hole […]

Noshir Mody’s Elegant Flow

 Contemporary-jazzer sets the mood with “The Yards” Noshir Mody’s new album, “A Love Song,” is highlighted by his elegant lines and flowing compositions. Here he offers a sample with “The Yards,” played on his ’95 Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III. Catch our review of the album in the November issue. Read Now!

Joe Louis Walker

All-Original Blues

A member of the Blues Hall of Fame, Joe Louis Walker’s music always has unmistakable blues elements. His latest album, Weight of the World, also brings vintage soul, funk, jazz, and even symphonic sounds inspired by a challenge from producer Eric Corne. What spurred your approach to making Weight of the World? Eric approached me […]

Domino Californian Rebel

Instrument Profile

California. The Left Coast. It was probably home to North America’s earliest inhabitants, as emigrants from Asia crossed the Bering Strait and began their march toward South America. But California figured little in much of anything else until 1848, when the folks setting up a lumber mill on John Sutter’s property near San Francisco noticed […]

Positive Grid Spark

Cloud Nine

Once upon a time, you had a guitar, amp, and pedals – a complete guitar universe. Today, there’s a fourth factor to consider – the internet.  Enter the Spark, a standalone amp with built-in models and effects that, once connected to the web via tablet or smartphone app, provides access to thousands of amp and […]

Prestige Guitars DC Coupe Custom T Hybrid

“Tele” Twist

The first Telecasters were so good that today they’re made almost exactly as they were 70 years ago. Working just as well for rock as they do for country and blues, there’s been very little reason to change the basic formula. But that doesn’t mean builders should shy away from applying their own twist. Prestige […]

Marshall’s EH-1 Echohead, RG-1 Regenerator & RF-1 Reflector

Little Marshalls, Big Tones

Continuing the tradition set forth by the stout little metallic gray/gold boxes of the GV-2 Guv’nor Plus, BB-2 Bluesbreaker II, VT-1 Vibratrem, and others, Marshall recently introduced the EH-1 Echohead delay, RG-1 Regenerator modulation & RF-1 Reflector digital reverb effects pedals. All share the same aesthetic elements and basic functionality; each is housed in a […]

The Collins Kids

Mostly-Moseley Memories

Siblings Lorrie and Larry Collins sprang into the public eye in the mid 1950s – dawn of the television era – on a program called “Town Hall Party.” The big-sister/little-brother act starred Lorrie on acoustic guitar, backing the prodigous Larry, who showed off his fleet-fingered style. Add the mentorship of co-stars Joe Maphis and Merle […]

Bruce Forman Honors Barney Kessel

Reunited

From 1957 to ’60, guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Shelly Manne recorded four LPs for Contemporary Records as a group called Poll Winners, a byproduct of each topping reader polls in Playboy and the jazz magazines DownBeat and Metronome. As a guitar/bass/drums group, they were a cutting-edge departure from the piano trio. […]

Kevn Kinney

Kevn Kinney

Small 'N Happy

As any fan of Drivin ’N Cryin can attest, Kevn Kinney at his creative best surrenders little to the greatest singer/songwriters in pop – his message is delivered in succinct, pointed turns of phrase transmitted by a voice like no other and accompanied by riffs that sink deeper than a treble hook. Drivin ’N Cryin […]

Nancy Wilson

Fire in the Heart

In the early ’70s, women didn’t play rock guitar. Nor did they front bands. Nancy Wilson was an exception. Few guitarists present as memorable an onstage image as does Wilson brandishing her famous custom-color Fender Telecaster onstage with Heart, the band she co-founded with her sister, Ann, in 1974. One of the biggest bands of […]

Maxon Fuzz Elements Pedals

Maxon Fuzz Elements Pedals

Elemental Fuzz

Maxon Fuzz Elements Pedals Price: $189 to $199 Contact: www.maxonfx.com Classic fuzz pedals are some of the fine wines of the vintage guitar world. Guitarists talk like Frenchified sommeliers when discussing Fuzztones, Tonebenders, and Tube Screamers as if they were hundred-year-old bottles of Bordeaux. “Mais oui, this all-original ’67 Fuzz Face with vintage germanium NKT275 […]

David Grissom

How It Feels To Fly

One of Les Paul’s favorite aphorisms when assessing other guitarists was, “Can his mother pick him out on the radio?” Or as Albert Collins put it, “Does he have an identification?” David Grissom passed those tests decades ago. His tone is equal parts crunch and definition. His style melds blues, rock, and country with tinges […]

Pop ’N Hiss: Bad Company

Powerful Purity

Bad Company’s self-titled 1974 debut album defines “classic rock” – no frills, just superb songs and performances from four gifted musicians. The British quartet was one of the first rock “supergroups.” Vocalist/guitarist/pianist Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke had been members of blues-rock powerhouse Free, which despite being blessed with brilliant-but-troubled guitarist Paul Kossoff and […]

Headway EDB-2 Equalizer Direct Blend Preamp Home Main

Headway EDB-2 Equalizer Direct Blend Preamp

Make Way

Headway EDB-2 Equalizer Direct Blend Preamp Price: $475 (retail)/$320 (street) Info: www.headwaymusicaudio.com. Designed in England and manufactured in Korea, the Headway EDB-2 is a 5.75″ x 3.75″ x 1.5″ box with a feature set that makes it ideal for acoustic guitarists who need an ultra-low-distortion connection to a PA or sound-reinforcement amplifier. The EDB-2 has […]

Scott Sharrard

Destined for the Gig

Anyone who has seen the Gregg Allman Band in person or caught its new CD/DVD, Back to Macon, Ga, knows guitarist/musical director Scott Sharrard covers a lot of musical ground. Sharrard learned guitar with help from his father, who taught him a Jimmy Reed 12-bar blues rhythm (in the key of A) so dad could […]

The Peavey ValveKing II Micro-head 20-Watt Amplifier

The Peavey ValveKing II Micro-head 20-Watt Amplifier

Royal Rock

The Peavey ValveKing II Micro-head 20-Watt Amplifier Price: $429.99 Contact: www.peavey.com Famous for their sturdy build and quality overdriven sounds, Peavey’s original ValveKing amplifiers were marketed to musicians who required great plug-in-and-go tones that wouldn’t send them to the poor house. The new Peavey ValveKing II Micro-head has all the nifty tones everyone knows and […]

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